The first season of the American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 21 to August 17, 2006. The season went into production a year earlier than planned by Got Talent creator Simon Cowell. Cowell intended for Britain's Got Talent to debut before AGT in 2006. However, production was suspended due to internal conflicts within its British television network. David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Piers Morgan were the show's first judges, with Regis Philbin as host. This season originally had an early format for live round judging and Wildcard acts, which would be changed after the season's conclusion.
The first season was won by singer Bianca Ryan,Philly 11-Year-Old Wows Judges On 'America's Got Talent' with clogging dance group All That, and singer/musician duo The Millers finishing as runner-ups within the Top 3 finalists. The season's actual results for second and third place were not declared. The ratings success of this season helped foster the development of other international editions of the Got Talent franchise, along with restarting production on the British edition.
This season is also noteworthy for featuring Jessica Sanchez, who, despite being eliminated in the semifinals, would later go on to win the twentieth season of the show in 2025.
Season overview
In 2005, Simon Cowell devised plans for a televised talent competition, originally intending for it be created and broadcast in Britain through the British broadcaster ITV, with an American edition to follow after its first season. However, following a pilot broadcast of the format, a dispute arose between ITV and Paul O'Grady, the originally intended host of Britain's Got Talent. In the wake of the dispute, after O'Grady decided to sign on to another network, Cowell suspended production on the British edition, and instead focused on the American edition in 2006. His proposal for his program in America was bought by NBC, who commissioned a small season of episodes, along with Fremantle and Cowell's own company Syco Entertainment. Auditions were launched across the United States, while Regis Philbin was picked as the host with David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Piers Morgan chosen as judges. After the open auditions had been completed, those who had been nominated for the program were entered into more an extensive round of major auditions, which took place across Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in April 2006.
The format used in the first season of America's Got Talent for live rounds differed greatly from what would later be used in later seasons of the program, as well as for other international editions of the Got Talent franchise. In the semi-finals and the final, the judges voted on each participant's performance pertaining to whether they approved or disapproved of an act, with no use of a buzzer to stop a performance at any time. While each semi-final would offer two places in the live final, any act eliminated by this stage would have a chance to be picked as a Wildcard for a special semi-final – two by each judge from any semi-final and one by the public from each round – with an additional two places offered.
Forty of the participants who auditioned for this season secured a place in the semi-finals, with ten performing in each show and eight of the acts making it into the live final. Approximately ten of the semi-finalists who didn't advance were chosen by the judges to compete within a Wildcard round and secured two additional places in the final. These are the results of each participant's overall performance during the season:
ParticipantGenreActSemi-finalResult Alexis Jordan Singing Singer 1 All That! Dance Dance Group 1 At Last Singing Vocal Group 2 Bianca Ryan Singing Singer 3 Bobby Badfingers Music Finger Snapper 2 Caitlyn Taylor Love Singing Singer 3 Celtic Spring Dance Dance Group 4 Corina Brouder Singing Singer 1 Dave the Horn Guy Music Horn Performer 2 Dave Smith One Man Sideshow Danger Sideshow Performer 4 David & Dania Magic Quick Change Duo 4 Desperation Squad Singing / Music Band 4 Elliot Zimet Magic Magician 3 George Komsky Singing Singer 4 Hoopalicious Dance Hula Hoop Artist 1 J. R. Johns and His Best Friends Animals Dog Act 1 Jessica Sanchez Singing Singer 5 Kenny Shelton Variety Juggler 3 Kevin Johnson Comedy Ventriloquist 1 King Charles Unicycle Troupe Danger Unicycle Group 4 Leonid the Magnificent Variety Novelty Act 2 Lilia Stepanova Acrobatics Contortionist 4 Mark the Knife Danger Danger Act 2 Michelle L'amour Dance Burlesque Dancer 4 Natasha Le Music Pianist 2 Nathan Burton Magic Magician 3 N'Versity Singing Vocal Group 2 Rappin' Granny Music Rapper 3 Realis Acrobatics Acrobatic Duo 2 Sean and John Dance Tap Dance Duo 4 Shawn Ryan Singing Singer 1 Sonia Lee Music Electric Violinist 3 Sugar n' Spice Music Vocal Group 2 Taylor Ware Music Yodeller 1 Team Acrodunk Acrobatics Basketball Stunt Team 3 Ten13 Concept Singing / Music Band 3 The Passing Zone Variety Juggling Duo 4 The Millers Singing Vocal Duo 1 Trey Knight's Stilt World Variety Stilt Performers 3 Vladik Miagkostoupov Variety Juggler 1 Vladimir Malachkin Acrobatics Hand Balancer 2
These participants were entered into the Wildcard semi-final, after losing their initial semi-final.
Semi-final summary Judge Disapproved | Judge Approved
Semi-final 1 (July 12) Guest Performer, Results Show: Teddy Geiger
Semi-FinalistOrderJudges' VoteResults (July 13) Taylor Ware 1 All That! 2 Kevin Johnson 3 Alexis Jordan 4 Vladik Miagkostoupov 5 Shawn Ryan 6 J. R. Johns and His Best Friends 7 Hoopalicious 8 Corina Brouder 9 The Millers 10
Each respective judge meant to vote their disapproval for the corresponding performance, but accidentally voted the opposite.
Semi-final 2 (July 19) Guest Performer, Results Show: Jurassic 5
Semi-FinalistOrderJudges' VoteResults (July 20) Dave the Horn Guy 1 Realis 2 At Last 3 Natasha Le 4 Vladimir Malachkin 5 Bobby Badfingers 6 Sugar n' Spice 7 N'Versity 8 Mark Faje 9 Leonid the Magnificent 10
Norwood meant to vote her disapproval for this participant, but accidentally voted for the opposite.
Semi-final 3 (July 26) Guest Performer, Results Show: Cirque du Soleil
Semi-FinalistOrderJudges' VoteResults (July 27) Team Acrodunk 1 Caitlyn Taylor Love 2 Sonia Lee 3 Elliot Zimet 4 Ten13 Concept 5 Rappin' Granny 6 Nathan Burton 7 Bianca Ryan 8 Kenny Shelton 9 Trey Knight's Stilt World 10
Semi-final 4 (August 2) Guest Performer, Results Show: Tom Green
Semi-FinalistOrderJudges' VoteResults (August 3) The Passing Zone 1 Celtic Spring 2 Sean and John 3 Lilia Stepanova 4 Dave Smith One Man Sideshow 5 David & Dania 6 George Komsky 7 Michelle L'amour 8 King Charles Unicycle Troupe 9 Desperation Squad 10
Semi-final 5 - Wildcard Round (August 9) Guest Performer, Results Show: Penn & Teller
Semi-FinalistOrderJudges' VoteResults (August 10) Nathan Burton 1 Bobby Badfingers 2 Jessica Sanchez 3 All That! 4 Corina Brouder 5 David & Dania 6 N'Versity 7 Natasha Le 8 Alexis Jordan 9 Leonid the Magnificent 10
Final (August 16) Guest Performers, Results Show: Aly & AJ, and Blue Man Group
Judge Disapproved | Judge Approved
FinalistOrderJudges' VoteResults (August 17) At Last 1 David & Dania 2 Rappin' Granny 3 Bianca Ryan 4 All That! 5 Taylor Ware 6 The Passing Zone 7 Celtic Spring 8 Realis 9 The Millers 10
Due to partaking in their performances, neither judge voted for these participants. Actual position these acts finished in was not disclosed by the program.
References